Manage headaches with chiropractic care

Headaches are responsible for more than 18 million doctor's office visits annually in the U.S., and are the most common reason for reaching for over-the-counter medication. Likewise troubling is their toll on the economy: $25 billion in lost productivity, based on the estimated 156 million work days lost each year by sufferers sometimes too debilitated to even make it out of bed.

All of which helps explain why a study in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics is causing such a stir among health experts -- and prompting patients interested in drug-free alternatives to consider heading for their nearest chiropractor.

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The study came down squarely in favor of chiropractic for two key types of sufferers. "Evidence suggests," it concluded, "that chiropractic care, including spinal manipulation, improves migraine and cervicogenic headaches." The latter refers to headaches originating from faulty cervical and other spinal biomechanics often precipitated by awkward motion or positioning, and can be accompanied by neck, shoulder or arm pain.

What's more, even patients with episodic or chronic tension type headaches were found to be "helped" by doctors of chiropractic, who go through a minimum of four years of post-college chiropractic education and clinical training.

One man who knows that chiropractors can do even more to help relieve such conditions -- providing nutritional advice, posture coaching and exercises -- is Gerard Clum, DC, an avid supporter of the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress, who said in response to the study: "Chiropractic care helps relieve the stress on your nervous system. And it's fast becoming a go-to choice for providing a non-pharmacological approach to effectively manage headaches."

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